


Mission: Baby

by cindyfxx, velvetjinx



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Babies, Baby Steve Rogers, Canon-Typical Violence, Emetophobia, Gen, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Protective Bucky Barnes, Road Trips, Threats of Violence, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 08:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14208984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cindyfxx/pseuds/cindyfxx, https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx
Summary: The Asset finds himself in charge of the care of a small baby, but somehow he knows—he has to protect the baby from all harm, whatever the cost.





	Mission: Baby

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [宝贝任务](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14338185) by [cindyfxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cindyfxx/pseuds/cindyfxx), [velvetjinx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx)



> This was written by Jinx off a very fleshed out idea by Cindy—definitely a combined effort!

The Asset grappled with the man, trying to get him to submit, but the man was putting up a fight. He was strong, too—stronger than the average man—and it made the Asset wonder. 

The man had also called him ‘Bucky’, like that meant something. The Asset couldn’t help but be curious. There was a strange sense of recognition when he looked at the man.

He heard a weapon being charged behind him, and dragged the man around so he was facing the weapon, gripping the man underneath his armpits. The man struggled as the weapon fired, hitting him directly in the chest. A second later, the weight in the Asset’s arms was a lot lighter, and the man’s clothing was hanging off something that was squirming in his hands.

He turned the bundle around, and a baby with a light dusting of blond hair blinked its big blue eyes back at him. It was tiny—the Asset would have guessed around a year old—and it seemed completely unafraid of the Asset.

Rumlow approached him and held out his hands. “Give me the baby, soldier,” he demanded. The Asset immediately obeyed the order, and the baby started to wail. “Shut up, Rogers,” Rumlow growled, glaring at the baby, who cried even louder. The Asset felt something in his chest, some reaction to the baby crying—a kind of protectiveness, combined with anger at Rumlow for making the baby cry. 

The baby continued to cry, sounding increasingly distressed, and the Asset couldn’t take it any more. It hurt him, somehow. 

He unsheathed his knife into his sleeve and approached Rumlow. When Rumlow looked at him questioningly, the Asset snatched the baby back with one hand, and stabbed Rumlow in the throat with the other. 

The baby had stopped crying, but the other HYDRA men were staring at him. One of them raised his gun, and the Asset didn’t even hesitate. He threw his knife at the man, getting him right in the eye, and drew his own gun, quickly and efficiently shooting the other two. 

The Asset ran. 

He didn’t know where he was going, only that he had to get out of there before he was found. Some of the baby’s friends were sure to come back when they hadn’t heard from him for a while, or more HYDRA operatives would appear. They would want the baby, and for some reason the Asset just couldn’t hand him over.

He clutched the baby to his chest as he ran; the baby, dressed only in a man’s undershirt, stayed so quiet the Asset had to stop a couple of times to make sure he was still breathing.

When he stopped for a third time, hidden under a bridge, he looked down at the baby, who yawned wide and promptly peed on the Asset. The Asset looked at him helplessly and then down at himself, disgusted. 

He didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a baby. He knew they needed food, and apparently they also needed diapers, but he had no idea how diapers worked, or how much sleep the baby would need. 

It was almost dark, and the Asset nodded to himself. He needed supplies. 

***

Deactivating the alarm system on the department store was easy, and he broke one of the windows around the back before carrying the baby inside. He was going to have to drive, so he needed something for the baby to sit in while he drove. He couldn’t exactly hold the baby while concentrating on the road. The baby also needed clothes, diapers, food, and stuff to keep it clean. 

The Asset looked down at himself. He was going to need some clothes himself if he was going to pass unnoticed among people. 

He found the baby a car seat first, and sat the baby in it as he filled backpacks full of baby supplies. The baby immediately began to wail when the Asset put him down, and he cursed. His eye fell on a fluffy bear, and he picked it up, passing it to the baby, who immediately snuggled it. He put the baby down into the car seat experimentally, and the baby stayed quiet, looking up at the Asset over the bear’s head with wide eyes.

Picking up a diaper and some clothes, the Asset knelt down and, after a great deal of trial and error, finally managed to get the diaper and clothes onto the baby. The baby looked a lot happier, and warmer, and the Asset smiled grimly. First issue dealt with.

The Asset carried everything to the menswear section, and quickly changed into less conspicuous clothes. His tac gear he stuffed in another backpack. It could come in useful. He grabbed a few changes of clothes, putting them in with his tac gear, and nodded. That should do for now.

Money was a bigger challenge, as most of the cash registers had been emptied at the end of the day. Luckily the safe in the cash office had a fair amount in it, and wasn’t too much of a challenge to get into.

As soon as they were out of the department store, the Asset found an inconspicuous looking car, switched the plates, and broke into it. He got the baby strapped into the back seat before throwing everything else into the trunk and climbing into the front seat. Hotwiring the car took him all of thirty seconds, and soon they were driving away. 

As they drove, he heard the baby’s breathing deepen in sleep and frowned. He was not remotely equipped to take care of a small baby—he could handle any weapon ever made, but a child?

The only thing he could think of was perhaps the baby would be better with a woman. He contemplated kidnapping one to look after the child, but immediately scrapped that. People would start looking for her, and she might escape and give away his location and description. It was going to be difficult enough to keep the child from being taken by HYDRA without added complications of a nationwide manhunt.

He drove past the city limits and into Maryland, pulling off the road into a large empty layby. The Asset got into the back seat next to the baby and locked all the doors, before settling down. He figured he could get a good half an hour of rest before he had to get moving again. 

***

The Asset’s eyes flew open at the sound of a cry, and when he looked up, the baby was watching him, eyes filled with tears.

“What’s wrong?” he asked the child, who of course couldn’t answer him, merely looking back, chin wobbling. “You hungry?” The baby stared at him. The Asset sighed, and reached into the trunk, pulling out the bag of baby food. He opened the packet of plastic spoons and one of the pots—applesauce—and scooped some onto the spoon. When he offered it to the baby, he opened his mouth and ate, trying to grab the spoon. The Asset pulled it out of the baby’s reach. “No,” he said sternly, brow wrinkling, and the baby looked at him curiously before grabbing for the spoon again.

The Asset somehow managed to keep the spoon out of the baby’s reach, and feed him without too much fuss or mess. He took out a juice box, and poked the straw through the hole, holding it for the baby. The baby drank the juice down before pulling away, gasping, then going back for more.

“Hey, slow down,” the Asset said gruffly. “You don’t want to make yourself sick.” The baby looked at him wide eyed as it sucked at the straw, clearly not understanding a word. 

The Asset sighed. This wasn’t what he’d been trained for. He’d been trained in death, not keeping things alive. He couldn’t keep the baby. The thought made something in his chest clench, but he ignored it, as he did all emotions. 

The baby made a face, as though concentrating hard, and suddenly the most awful stench filled the car. 

“Oh fuck,” the Asset choked out, opening one of the windows. “What the hell?”

The baby looked at him, wide eyed and innocent, and the Asset wrinkled his nose. The baby’s diaper must need changing. He grabbed a diaper and some wipes and took the baby out its car seat, getting out the car and laying the baby on the seat. 

The smell got more powerful when he took off the babygrow, and by the time he opened the diaper his eyes were watering. He looked helplessly at the poop-filled diaper. How was he supposed to do this without getting baby crap all over the seat?

He took hold of the baby’s feet and held them up, suspending the baby’s butt a couple of inches above the seat. So far so good. He took the dirty diaper out from under the baby, and dropped it on the ground outside the car. Opening the pack of wipes with one hand proved challenging, but not impossible; the Asset grabbed three and began to gingerly clean the crap off the baby’s butt. 

Ten wipes later, he was pretty sure the baby must be clean. He put a fresh diaper on the baby, who gurgled at him as he buttoned up the babygrow. 

“Yeah, yeah,” the Asset replied in a growl. “Bet you’re happy now.”

He picked up the baby and climbed back into the back seat of the car. He considered putting the baby back in the car seat, but he was already almost asleep again, so the Asset rested the baby on his chest and let himself fall into a light slumber. 

He allowed himself to sleep a few times that night, the baby cuddled on his chest. When morning broke, the baby blinked its blue eyes open and smiled at the Asset, cooing. The Asset fed the baby and changed its diaper, then strapped it back into the car seat and drove off. 

As he drove, he passed a daycare center, and paused. It was a Wednesday, so it should be open, but he got out to check. Sure enough, the place opened at nine. It was now seven thirty. He could… he could leave the baby there, he reasoned. The baby would be well looked after, and he could protect it from a distance. 

He nodded to himself, and parked the car, scribbling a note with his cell number in case of emergencies asking them to take care of the baby. He got out and unstrapped the car seat, carrying it to the door. Leaving the seat on the step, he put the note on top of the baby’s blanket. 

The baby looked up at him, eyes wide. 

“I can’t take care of you,” the Asset said helplessly. “I don’t know how. These people will make sure you’re okay.” The baby continued to stare at him, still clutching the bear. “Okay. Well. Bye,” the Asset said quickly, before striding away to the car. 

A few moments later, from his vantage point across the street, the Asset heard the baby start to wail. He grit his teeth. This was best for the baby. The baby didn’t know what was best for it, but he did. He couldn’t take care of it. 

The baby was screaming now, and the Asset felt sick. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t let the baby cry like that. 

He got out the car and ran over to the step, grabbing the red faced, screaming baby from the car seat and holding it close. 

“Hey, shhhh,” he said softly. “Hey, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, okay? I thought this would be best for you but I didn’t want to make you cry. Shhh. It’s okay. You’re okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”

The baby’s cries subsided to sniffles, as it clung to the Asset’s coat with its tiny hands. The Asset felt a swooping in his chest that he couldn’t define, but vowed that he wouldn’t try anything like that again. 

He took the baby back to the car and strapped it back into the car seat in the back. The baby dropped its bear as the Asset fiddled with the straps, and he picked it up. “You want your bear, huh?” he asked, and the baby blinked at him. 

“Bear!” The baby said, pointing to the Asset. 

“No, bear,” the Asset replied, pointing to the bear. 

The baby frowned. “Buck!” it said, pointing to the bear. 

The Asset felt a weird kind of recognition at the name, but shook his head. “Bear,” he said again. 

The baby pointed at the Asset. “Bear!”

The Asset sighed. This clearly wasn’t a battle he was going to win. 

“Come on, little one,” he said softly. “Let’s go.”

As they drove away, the Asset realized he was hungry. There was a diner on the edge of the small town, and he pulled a cap on and over his eyes, taking the baby in to the diner.

He found a table with a child’s seat, but as soon as he put the baby down, it started to wail. He was attracting the attention of the other diners, so the Asset gave in, holding the baby on his knee as he looked through the menu. The baby immediately quieted, gurgling softly. 

A waitress came over and cooed at the baby. “Well, aren’t you a cutie? What’s your name, little one?”

“Steve,” the Asset replied immediately, unsure of where the name came from.

“Awww, hey, precious. You sure you don’t want to sit him in the high chair, hon?”

The Asset shook his head. “He likes to be held.”

The waitress nodded. “One of mine was like that. Screamed blue blazes if you put her down for a second. So are you waiting for his mom?”

The Asset looked down at the menu. “No. It’s just us.”

“Oh, hon, I’m sorry,” the waitress said, mouth turning down. “And he’s such a little thing. So what can I getcha?”

“Coffee, please,” the Asset said hoarsely. “And pancakes with a side of bacon.”

“What kind of pancakes, hon? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? Banana?”

The Asset looked at her thoughtfully. “Uh, chocolate chip?”

“Good choice,” the waitress said, laughing. “Give you enough energy to deal with this little one. You wanna order anything for him?”

“Sure.” The Asset paused. “What’s, uh, what would be okay for him? I’m sorry, I’m kinda new to this.”

The waitress’s eyes softened. “We’ve got oatmeal, and you can have it with a banana? That should do him.”

“Yes, thank you,” the Asset replied. The waitress smiled and walked away, as the Asset held the baby close to his chest. “Steve… you like that name?”

The baby blew a spit bubble. “Bear!” he said, pointing to the Asset. 

“Yeah, sure,” the Asset said, cuddling the baby close. “Whatever you say.”

There was a TV on in the corner, and the Asset watched it with interest. They were reporting on a missing person, a ‘Captain America’...

Captain America.

The man.

The baby.

The people on the TV spoke about the Avengers, and how they were leading a manhunt for the man who had taken Steve. The Asset put his head down but no one was even looking at him.

He knew, however, that he couldn’t linger long.

***

They drove west, then south, into West Virginia, then Kentucky. He changed cars every night, making sure to change the plates on each one. After a few miles, he changed direction, heading north into Ohio. The Asset had a vague plan in the back of his mind that they should go to Canada, though how he was going to get there was another matter.

Steve the baby seemed to be doing okay under his care, and the Asset started to unclench slightly. Perhaps he could do this. Perhaps, after all, he was the best person to look after the baby. Steve would cry if anyone else even came near, clinging to the Asset with his tiny hands and burying his face in the Asset’s shirt. Women tended to approach him at the diners they stopped at more than men, but no matter how softly they spoke, Steve wanted nothing to do with them. The Asset was glad now that he hadn’t taken a woman to look after Steve. 

He listened to the news a lot. They were still looking for Steve, but the Avengers had been busy taking down SHIELD, which had been infiltrated by HYDRA, according to news reports. They’d had to destroy several helicarriers, luckily with minimal civilian casualties. 

***

They’d been on the road for two weeks when disaster struck. The Asset was in the middle of feeding Steve when the baby gurgled ominously and immediately threw up. The Asset’s eyes widened and he cleaned Steve up quickly, as Steve started to cry. He picked up the baby, but instead of stopping, the baby kept crying, and promptly threw up again all over the Asset’s shoulder. 

The Asset panicked, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t take Steve to a doctor—he had no proof of ID or insurance—but the baby was obviously in distress. 

He changed Steve into a fresh babygrow and then put on a fresh shirt himself. It was getting dark, and he remembered spotting a late night clinic a couple of miles back. 

The Asset set his jaw. The plan had better work. 

The car park at the clinic was empty, but the Asset parked around the side anyway. Steve was asleep in the back of the car, breathing slightly labored, so the Asset figured he’d be okay there for a few minutes. There was a back door, locked, but he quietly forced his way in and crept in. 

He drew his gun and opened one of the doctors’ offices. Empty. He kept going, checking each room in turn. 

Finally, he came to a door where he could hear the noisy clack-clack-clack of typing inside. He opened the door quickly and slipped inside, aiming his gun at the doctor inside. The doctor turned at the noise, and his eyes widened. 

“Oh god, please don’t hurt me,” the doctor whimpered. “You can take whatever you want, just please don’t shoot me.”

“Get your bag and come with me,” the Asset growled. 

The doctor nodded frantically and grabbed his bag, and together they went back out the back door. 

“In the car. Driver’s side,” the Asset whispered urgently. The doctor did as he was told, and the Asset got in the passenger side, keeping his gun trained on the doctor. “Okay. Drive. Follow my directions exactly.”

“What do you want with me?”

“Drive.”

The doctor swallowed hard and began to drive, turning when the Asset told him to. When they were a few miles from the town, they pulled into a layby. 

“Get out.” The doctor nodded stiffly and got out, and the Asset got out, opening the car’s back door and gesturing to the baby. “This—my baby is sick. Fix him.”

The doctor looked in the back seat and his eyebrows disappeared into his hair. “You have a baby? That’s why you took me?”

“Less questions. Just fix him.”

“Okay.” The doctor took a deep breath. “What are his symptoms?”

“He was really sick while I was feeding him,” the Asset said, trying not to let his voice shake. “And he wouldn’t stop crying. His breathing is weird too.”

The doctor nodded and opened his bag, taking out various implements. “I’m gonna need you to hold the baby.” The Asset glanced down at his gun, and the doctor sighed. “I’m not going anywhere. You look like the kind of guy who’d hunt me down if I did, and I have an intense sense of self-preservation, okay? Don’t worry. We’ll get your baby all fixed up.”

The Asset thought for a moment, then holstered his gun, taking Steve out the car seat. The baby blinked up at him, sniffling. 

“What do I need to do?” the Asset asked. 

“Open his babygrow. I need to listen to his chest.” The Asset did so, and Steve stared wide eyed at the doctor as he approached with the stethoscope. As soon as it was pressed against his chest, Steve looked like he was about to cry, but the Asset held him closer. 

“It’s okay,” the Asset murmured to him. “This doctor is going to help us. I won’t let anyone hurt you, I promise.”

When the doctor had listened to Steve’s chest, back and front, he took his temperature. 

“Well, he seems healthy enough,” the doctor said slowly. “He’s just got a bit of a cold is all. I’ll give him a vitamin shot but otherwise keep him warm and keep his fluids up, okay?”

“Okay,” the Asset replied, trying not to heave a sigh of relief. The doc took out a fresh syringe and a bottle of something, and the Asset held up his hand. “Wait. How do I know you’re giving him something that isn’t going to poison him?”

The doctor looked at him like he was crazy. “What?”

“Inject yourself with it first.”

The doctor cleared his throat. “Um. Okay?” He gave himself a shot with some of the contents of the bottle, and they waited a few minutes. “See? It’s just vitamins. It’s perfectly fine.”

“Okay. But I swear, if you do anything to hurt him—”

“I won’t,” the doctor said shortly. He got out another syringe and drew some of the liquid out, approaching Steve who began to cry. “Hold him still, please,” the doctor told him, and the Asset cuddled Steve close to him. 

“It’s okay. The doctor is going to give you something to make you better again,” he murmured, and Steve buried his face in the Asset’s chest. 

The doctor injected Steve quickly, although that didn’t stop Steve from screaming as soon as the needle touched his skin. The Asset winced to hear him, and held him close. 

“There,” the doctor said softly. “Now can you please take me back?”

The Asset shook his head. “And let you call the cops? I’ll drop you on the edge of the town. That’s as close as I’ll take you.” He paused, frowning. “And… thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the doctor said wryly. 

The Asset drove the doctor back to the outskirts of the town and then sped off. He knew the doctor would probably talk, but there was nothing he could do about that. 

He changed cars that night, just in case.

Sure enough, as they drove north through Ohio the next day, a news report came on the radio. 

_“So I’m here with Doctor David Rush who had a brush with death last night. Can you tell me about it, Doctor?”_

_“Uh, sure, Cindy. Well, I was in my night clinic, and a man with a gun came in. White male, around six feet, scruffy stubble. He pointed the gun at me and told me I had to go with him, so I did. He made me drive his car out of town, then we got out and I discovered why I’d been kidnapped.”_

_“And why was that, doctor?”_

_“He had a baby with him, about a year old. Cute little thing. Blond hair, blue eyes. Anyway, the baby had been sick, and I assume this guy didn’t have insurance, but he sure did care about the baby. I checked the baby over—turned out he just had a cold—and I was gonna give him a vitamin shot when the guy said he was worried I might poison the baby and told me to inject myself!”_

_“Sounds like he was paranoid!”_

_“I don’t know, Cindy. He seemed really scared that someone was out to hurt the baby. But once I’d injected myself he let me inject the baby too. I hope wherever they are now that baby’s okay.”_

_“Thank you, doctor. Indiana state police are on the lookout for the man’s car, a blue ford with Ohio plates. If you see this car, please contact the hotline…”_

The Asset grit his teeth. If HYDRA heard that report they would know it was him. They’d find him, because they’d know what state he was in.

He turned south again as soon as he could, back into Kentucky, stopping only when he absolutely needed to, and changing cars more often. Even so, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were catching up to him.

They were in Virginia when they were spotted. 

The Asset was strapping Steve into his car seat after a diner stop when the black van pulled up. The Asset immediately drew his gun as one of the men took a step towards him.

“Calm down, soldier,” the man said slowly. “We just want the baby.”

The Asset narrowed his eyes, firing and hitting the guy in the leg. He fell to the ground, and as the others drew their guns, the Asset jumped into the car and sped away. He knew—or he hoped—that the baby was too important to them for them to shoot at the car.

But now they were chasing.

He turned onto the highway, speeding north between traffic in the small car. The van, bigger and more cumbersome, had more difficulty getting through the traffic. After a mile or so he’d lost them, but the Asset wasn’t taking anything for granted. He continued up the highway, face set. 

There was only one thing left to do.

***

The Asset pulled up outside Avengers Tower, taking Steve out of the back seat and carrying him inside. A security guard immediately stood in his path, but the Asset took him out easily with his metal arm. More security guards ran towards him, and he took out his gun. 

“I need to speak to one of the Avengers,” he said quickly, his gun moving from one guard to the next. “Now!”

“What’s going on here?”

The Asset looked up and saw one of the Avengers—he thought it might be the one called Stark—walking through the atrium. 

“Steve,” the Asset said helplessly, bouncing the baby, and Stark’s eyes widened.

“Holy shit! Stand down,” Stark told the security guards. The Asset lowered his gun as Stark approached. “May I?” he asked, holding out his hands.

The Asset hesitated, then handed Steve over. Steve immediately began to cry.

“He doesn’t like other people,” the Asset told Stark. “I’ve been trying to protect him, but HYDRA were getting too close.”

“Aren’t you HYDRA?” Stark asked, eyes narrowed.

“I—I was. But when this happened, I… I had to protect him.”

“Huh.”

Steve was still crying, and the Asset walked closer, smoothing down the baby’s hair. The baby stopped crying, looking at the Asset with those big blue eyes as he clutched his bear tightly.

“I have to go, little one. You’ll be safe here.” He looked up at Stark. “Can you fix this?”

Stark shrugged. “We’ve been working on some ideas since it happened, and I think we might have figured it out. It’ll still take a little while to fine tune, though.”

“But you’ll protect him?”

“Of course.”

The Asset nodded. “Then I guess I should go.”

“You think we’re going to just let a HYDRA asset walk out of here?” Stark asked, lips twitching.

“No, but you will anyway.”

“And why is that?”

The Asset smiled grimly. “Because I’m going to take out HYDRA. As many of them as I can. They’ll pay for what they did.”

Stark raised an eyebrow. “I’m still not sure that we should let you go.”

“And you’d try to detain me in front of the baby?”

Stark paused, looking down at Steve. “Fine,” he said at length. “Just… get out of here before I change my mind. If you need our help taking them down, you know where we are.”

The Asset nodded, then kissed Steve on the top of his head. “Be safe,” he murmured.

“Bear?” Steve said tremorously, and the Asset shot him a wan smile.

“Bye,” he said quietly, and left quickly. He jumped into the driver’s seat of the car, mouth set in a grim line. HYDRA wouldn’t even know what hit them.

***

He started slow, taking out the smaller bases first. He’d stocked up on weapons from the first base he hit, and each base had enough supplies that he never wanted for ammo.

As he traveled around, he began to remember things. It was gradual at first—faces, names, snippets of conversation appearing to him in dreams—but when he found himself at one of the places he’d been held, it was as though the memories couldn’t be stopped. 

He sat down on one of the chairs, ignoring the bodies surrounding him, as he remembered.

His name was _Bucky_.

***

He was in a base in Seattle, looking through the files contained there, when he heard a noise behind him. Thinking that he’d missed one of the HYDRA operatives, he turned and fired, and the shot bounced off a familiar shield.

“Buck,” Steve said gently. “It’s just me. You can put the gun down.”

Bucky lowered his gun. “How did you find me?”

“Isn’t that the story,” Steve replied, grimacing. “We’ve been following your trail, but Tony managed to decipher some of the files SHIELD—or HYDRA—had, listing their bases. This one came up as the likeliest match for where you’d go next.” 

Bucky nodded. “Okay. Second question, why did you come find me?”

“Buck,” Steve said slowly. “You’re you. Why wouldn’t I come find you? Besides, I hear you took great care of me when I was a baby,” he added, smirking.

“I’m not done yet,” Bucky warned him, and Steve rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well, I’m not gonna let you do this on your own.”

Bucky’s expression softened. “You’re such a punk.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a jerk. Come on. Come meet the team.”

Bucky nodded and left with Steve, heading out into the cold Seattle air. As they walked, Steve glanced at him and smiled, and Bucky smiled back. It wasn’t perfect. It might never be. But for now, he had Steve with him, alive and safe, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
